Roc + Rudi: Behind The Organic Infant, Baby & Kids' Clothing Brand

When shopping for organic infant, baby, toddler and children’s clothes, it’s important to be able to trust a brand’s eco friendly ethos.

At My Little Green Wardrobe we only stock ethical, sustainable and organic infant clothes and children’s clothing - helping you make great choices.

We regularly take you behind the scenes of the ethical baby & kids brands we sell to explore their values, and find out how they maintain a sustainable approach to their purpose-driven children’s clothing business. 

This month we are talking to Meghan Williams - the owner and founder of organic baby & children’s brand, Roc + Rudi…

When was Roc + Rudi founded and what’s the ethos behind the organic infant clothing brand?

Above, Meghan Williams - founder of sustainable childrenswear brand Roc + Rudi, which specialises in organic infant clothes and ethical toddler clothing.

Roc + Rudi was set up in 2021 in the middle of the pandemic.  I just had my second baby, and it was a crazy time to be on maternity leave. 

I always thought I wanted to do something, and amongst all those days where you couldn't go to the park it felt like now or never…  Why not give it a go?

Tell us about the eco friendly credentials of Roc + Rudi, and why this is important to you and the brand?

I’m not from a fashion background, so everything was new to me. I started exploring infant clothing brands, and the deeper I got into it, the more I realised sustainability just isn’t top of mind for most businesses.

And once you know a bit more about the manufacturing processes behind kids’ clothing, it’s really shocking to discover how it’s produced and where it comes from. 

I was quite shocked by the impact the fashion industry was having and I just thought we could do a bit better.

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What kind of sustainable materials do you use for your baby and children’s garments?

All of our baby and kids' clothes are made from certified organic cotton.  Mixed in with the cotton is about five per cent jersey stretch so that everything has a bit of give to it. This was important to me because I had massive babies and trying to shove them into things was not fun.

Everything I've tried to do has practicality at its heart - organic baby sleepsuits have fold-down feet, so it can last you a bit longer than 3 months. 

Our organic infant clothes also have double zips which are super useful and mean you don’t have to undress baby completely in order to do a nappy change.

All of the garments are printed using toxic-free inks and dyes, and being made in the UK was also part of our sustainable ethos.

All of Roc + Rudi’s organic kids' clothing is made in the UK, why was that important to you?

Yes, that was really important to me, because of the ethics behind it.  People don’t realise that a lot of the kids' clothes bought on the high street are not ethically produced. We need to think long and hard about the labour and manufacturing process: somebody literally sits there and sews these things.  

If you’re buying a pack of three babygrows for £10, how much do you think they’ve paid that garment worker?

Once you’ve thrown in packaging, shipping, retail and all the rest of it, how much do you think that person has been paid to make your baby's clothes?

That sat with me.

• Shop Organic Kids Clothes by Roc + Rudi

Price is super important - especially in a cost of living crisis. I know cost is king for people, but I do think there are ways of going about that. 

Lots of great brands have sales, so you can afford to be a bit more choosy about what you purchase. I personally would want to make sure that my children aren’t wearing something made by another child. That’s just a choice.

Made in the UK

It would have been really easy and much cheaper to get it manufactured elsewhere, and to be honest I've questioned whether it’s worthwhile or not because of the extra cost.

But I still think it’s the right thing to do. 

I also wanted to give back into our economy.

I use a family-run factory in Leicester and the carbon footprint transporting the finished garments is very small.  There are no planes, no boats, no long distances.

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All Roc + Rudi clothes are gender neutral - why is that a key feature for your organic children’s brand?

I wanted everything to be gender neutral - or gender irrelevant, as I call it - which is something really important to me personally. 

I just don’t think we need to have those gender stereotypes in children’s clothing any more.  

On the high street everything’s still segregated into boy/girl categories - and I got to the point where I could only see lions and dragons in green and blue for my boys. 

I don’t want to dress little boys in such gendered, prescriptive clothing - I want to dress them in fun stuff.

And there are some nice gender neutral kids’ brands out there, but I don’t want to dress them like mini adults either. I want them to dress like kids - so everything needs to be fun and friendly in terms of colours and patterns.

I’ve worked with a couple of designers on the patterns and prints. All the prints are exclusive so you won’t find them anywhere else.

Roc + Rudi is an organic kids' clothing brand with a musical theme - how did that come about?

From the beginning, we have included a musical theme to our products - and they still do to this day. I just thought it was fun.

Most of the time I like to think I’m at Glastonbury and am still 22 years old. I was really into going to festivals, and going to the disco when I was younger, so it feels just like it’s a little piece of me.

All of the prints have really silly or musical names - like the organic cotton kids leggings with ice cream print are called Lolly Parton leggings, and I created a colourful fruit print, so i could pay homage to Wham’s Club Tropicana! 

So even if you don’t see it immediately, it’s all named and branded in terms of musicality.

What are your favourite items in your collection of organic infant clothes?

My personal favourite has to be the All That Jazz print, which is the brand print - and has a special place in my heart. But everyone LOVES the Lolly Parton ice cream print too - and that’s got to be a favourite too.

• Shop All That Jazz children's organic PJs
• Shop Lolly Parton organic shorts and t-shirt set

In terms of styles, the sleepsuits are incredible and packed with brilliant features. The longer sleeveless rompers are super versatile and are always good for season in and season out.  

And the shorter rompers are simply delicious - especially with the matching bibs.

Are Roc + Rudi clothes suitable for cloth nappies?

All our organic leggings up to the age of 2-3 years are cloth nappy friendly. After that age we have a more slimline silhouette.  But all our styles have that little bit of extra give to them, which on the face of it might sound like it’s not the right thing to do, but I thought it was better because they can last a little bit longer than regular baby clothes.

What have been your main challenges as a small business?

Starting a business in the pandemic has been mad. Obviously there was a huge online boom during that time, so how do you find your normal amongst all of that? 

Setting up the basics was a complete mind boggle - I didn’t know how to set up a website, start a clothing line or do any of these things - and there’s no one there to help you.

You definitely have to have a certain level of resilience and it is a slog but it’s really rewarding when you show your products to people and get great feedback.

• Explore Roc + Rudi's sustainable collection of baby and toddler clothing now!